TOPIC:

I am trying to complete a book review, which contains a garbled reference to the Latin inscription on the Transport Medal, which is said to be "OB PATRIAM MILITIBUS PER MARKE TRANSVECTIS ADJUTAM" (sic). I very soon worked out that "marke" should have been "mare", but am still slightly confused by the suggested translation, which is said to be "For services rendered in transporting troops by sea". There must surely be a more accurate translation than this - across the sea, for example, would seem to be more accurate, but what does "patriam" mean in this context? "Fatherland"? "home"? (My utterly bog-standard Oxfordshire so-called school did not teach me Latin, or indeed any other languages).

Stanley,

Thank you for raising this question. It highlighted that the translation of the inscription was missing from the page on the Transport Medal. This has now been added and translates as 'For services rendered in transporting troops by sea'.

The Transport Medal page is here .

Kind regards
David

I know that 'For services rendered in transporting troops by sea' is the usual translation (at least that is the version quoted on Wikipedia), but I am wondering what "patriam" means in this context?

Stanley,

One of the coins commemorating Nelson has the inscription 'NELSON OB PATRIAM PVGNANDO MORT.OCT XXI.MDCCCV.' which is translated as 'Nelson died fighting for his country'. Similarly 'Ob patriam pugnando' translates 'to fight for one's country and 'Haec Manus ob Partiam' is translated as “this hand for my country”

I see what you mean. The 'official' translation does seem to be a little loose when it comes to Ob Patriam.

Regards
David

Hello David,

Thank you for your reply, which seems to have more or less answered the question. It appears that a rough translation would be something like "for transporting soldiers across the sea for his country" - probably not entirely accurate, but better than the Wikipedia version, which leaves out the ob patriam bit.

I have been reading on another forum about the perils of placing too much faith in Wikipedia entries.

Regards
Brett